Monday 18 June 2007

Having a Good Knight at the Cricket!

Despite the illustrious Sir Ian Botham's insistence that wine is the best drink in the world, (congratulations by the way Beefy), I don't think you can beat a pint whilst watching the men in white and I'm pleased to say there's a new book out that combines these two subjects beautifully.

The Beer Lover's Guide to Cricket by Roger Protz, the guy who compiles the Good Beer Guide amongst many other things (see links), is not only hugely fascinating if you are interested in cricket it also provides a great guide to getting decent beer in and around cricket grounds in the UK.

Starting with a detailed history of the Bat & Ball in Hambledon, the birthplace of the modern game, the author details the background of the game and includes notable and amusing anecdotes throughout - including this gem of bawdy humour:

"A minute records that at one dinner the toasts were for:

The Queen's Mother
The King
Hambledon Club
Cricket
To the Immortal Memory of Madge
The President

"Madge was the nickname given to the small wicket made up of two stumps. By extension it was also a vulgar term for a woman's private parts. What fun the members must have had when the shape of the wicket changed and Madge was infiltrated by a third stump."

The wags! But this is a beer blog after all and I'd love to just make this one point - why, oh why, are all these real ale brands investing in cricket advertising if you can't get a pint of the damn stuff when you're at most of the grounds' public bars? Smoothflow sucks, give us the decent beer please!

P.S. Congratulations to the two Neils of BarWizards on their stonking performance on Britain's Got Talent - as they are great mates of mine I personally think they stole the show, but then I'm biased! For some of the most entertaining bartending you'll ever see click here http://talent.itv.com/page.asp?partid=348 and if you want to contact the boys visit: http://www.barwizards.net/ and tell them you saw it here!

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